State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2015 - Argentina

Historically, Argentina had an extensive and diverse indigenous civilization. According to the 2010 census – though it was criticized at the time by some communities who believed that the minority and indigenous populations were under-represented in the final count – Argentina has a population of over 40 million people. The 2010 census counted a total of 955,032 people self-defining themselves as indigenous – forming 2.4 per cent of the national population. This was 355,000 more than the estimated number of self-identified indigenous produced in a special 2004 indigenous survey. This increase in self-identification reflects a change in attitudes towards indigeneity, particularly among urban young people, who are now more willing to self-identify as indigenous. There is also better understanding within Argentina of the country's strong indigenous roots. Despite the still low proportion of people self-defining themselves as indigenous, a 2014 DNA study of the Argentine population for the WCIP found that 56 per cent of Argentines have at least a measure of indigenous DNA.

A further 150,000 people in the 2010 census – the first to measure ethnic minorities as distinct groups – self-identified as Afro-Argentines, less than 1 per cent of the national population. This group has long been invisible in the country, but there is now an increasing willingness to self-identify and a renewed awareness of the community's rich heritage. Argentina's Afro-descendant community originated in the slave trade, a fact that has a bearing on their continued discrimination today. However, a UNESCO-sponsored programme, Sitios de Memoria, has been developing a series of sites linked to the slave route running through Argentina to Paraguay and Uruguay. This continues to play an important role in raising awareness about the legacy of slavery for the Afro-Argentine community among other Argentines and among an international audience. A New York Times article, published in September 2014, highlighted the vivid cultural life and commemorative value of sites like Capilla de los Negros, a chapel built by freed slaves in 1861.

Despite enjoying unique cultures and facing distinct challenges, both indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Argentina continue to struggle against deep-rooted discrimination. Yet there is also an increasing capacity to mobilize against injustices and rights abuses. In January 2015, for instance, the widely publicized death of a Qom child from malnutrition in a small town in Chaco prompted widespread outrage among indigenous communities across Argentina and a potential case against three ministers of the national government for failure of duty to the Qom community. Indigenous communities have also struggled to defend their land rights against increasing agro-industrial and extractive industries. The Mapuche people, for example, have repeatedly seen their territory encroached upon by oil and gas prospectors. However, throughout the year communities began fencing off their communal territories in response to the national government's auctioning of large tracts of land to foreign companies for oil fracking. Though exploration continued, this resistance successfully disrupted local operations in the short term and brought attention to the ongoing discrimination experienced by Mapuche and other indigenous peoples.

Though a large proportion of the country's wealth and resources is concentrated in urban areas such as the capital Buenos Aires, the deep levels of disadvantage experienced by urban-dwelling indigenous peoples have persisted. Yet Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina have also served as centres for self-expression. In April 2014, ahead of Argentina's participation at the WCIP in September, a historical act took place in Buenos Aires: the President of Argentina inaugurated the exhibition Salón de los Pueblos Originarios in the national Government House. In April 2015, too, a crowd of indigenous women marched through the city centre to demand improved rights, participation and a bill of 'good living' for women in Argentina.